Manila, Philippines – Albet Buddahim has been recently named the vice president and head of marketing at MEGA Prime Foods. In it, he brings a wealth of experience in the marketing scene to a leading food company whose portfolio includes best-selling food products like MEGA Sardines, MEGA Tuna, and MEGA Mackerel.
In an exclusive interview with MARKETECH APAC, Albet details what’s in it for him in this new marketing leadership role, his learnings that he intends to bring at MEGA Prime Foods, as well as navigating the complexities of doing marketing in the F&B industry.
Building the marketing organisation and business
For Albet, his new role will revolve around two major objectives: building the marketing organisation who he will work with, and building the business.
“I look after a brand and marketing team of 24 headcounts and we are hiring 5 more to ensure we achieve our 2025 goals. [Moreover], I will [also] be working with HR, Management and the marketing leadership team to have our brand/marketing become a tribe who has a right-to-win (capabilities, competencies, culture) and play-to-win (strategic where-to-play and knows how-to-win) with a growth mindset,” he explained.
Albet also added that from a work standpoint, his role will look after three main groups of marketing professionals, namely Brand Management & Development, Marketing Capabilities and Resources, and Digital, Data & E-Commerce.
With a winning team, then we will be able to collaborate and become a One Mega Dream team to achieve [the top] one position in our product categories,” he noted.
In terms of the marketing strategy, he says that they will implement the so-called 5A’s of business building, namely Awareness, Affinity-building, Affordability, Accessibility and Availability.
Awareness is about ensuring millions know about the company and brands, what it does/provides, what they stand for and why the brand exists. Moreover, affinity-building is about ensuring that they are building brand preference and that the target consumers/customers/shoppers will like MEGA brands versus its competitors.
Meanwhile, affordability is about creating and communicating the value of the brands and their products as compared to alternatives and substitutes. Accessibility is about ensuring that the brand’s products can be easily purchased (accessed) in the nearest sari-sari store or modern trade along its shoppers/consumers’ path-to-purchase. Lastly, availability is the right SKU in the right place and time, ensuring that the brands products are not out-of-stock.
Reflections in transition to new role
Before his new role at MEGA Prime Foods, he was most recently the chief marketing officer at Primer Group of Companies. He was responsible for leading the various marketing and creative teams across the company in both traditional and digital channels by creating and communicating Primer’s business value.
Speaking on his learnings from his previous role, he said that winning the context is important in terms of targeting particular demographics versus going for media placements.
“The importance of doing STP (segment, target, position) and truly understanding which segment has disposable income to buy the premium brands like TUMI, Delsey, Herschel. Moving forward to MEGA Prime Foods, we will continue to segment the target market into strategic target audience and prime prospects, in a way that we have more focused (more resonating and relevant, contextual content) initiatives to drive customer acquisition and repeat,” he explained.
Navigating challenges through technology
For Albet, one of the biggest marketing challenges for him to tackle would be achieving differentiation, as the omnichannel approach makes it easier for competitors to replicate, catch up, and gain visibility into our marketing efforts.
Moreover, ensuring a sustainable source of growth and profitability is also critical for the company’s product, brand, and category portfolio, especially as globalisation and direct-to-consumer (DTC) models enable global and Chinese businesses to enter the market with competitive price advantages.
Lastly, attracting and retaining top marketing talent poses a significant challenge, given the financial constraints of a local manufacturing company compared to global premium brands and corporations.
“MEGA Sardines is the #1 Sardines in the Philippines and we have continued to expand our MEGA seafood line into Tuna, Mackarel and Squid. The pattern of mergers & acquisitions is also a trend that our company MEGA Prime foods has pursued with the recent 2024 acquisition of Jimm’s Coffee mix,” he said.
Albet added, “Moving forward to 2025 and beyond, our company will continue to leverage technology (ie. AI, RPA, etc.) from our fishing vessels, to manufacturing, down to marketing, sales and distribution.”
